Advertisement
Published: June 20th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Day 137
The train took 18 hours and was the longest journey we have done in a long time. Time did not drag on the train as we are all used to them now and most of us even got a full nights sleep. We were supposed to arrive at 11am in Shanghai but the very slow train was delayed 2 hours. We took a taxi to our next hotel, as it was lunchtime we were able to check in and shower before meeting the group for lunch.
Upon arriving in Shanghai we noticed that most of the city was under construction, in fact our hotel was surrounded by building work and not much else. We later learned that this is due to Expo 2010 being held here. The city was full of smog and with the weather being warm it was not enjoyable walking round in the dusty streets. Shanghai is the second largest city in China with a population of over 20 million.
For lunch we all went to the restaurant next door to our hotel and enjoyed sharing our meals we enjoyed a good feast for a few pounds each. Next was an orientation
walk where Dodo showed us some useful shops etc but we were not impressed that the nearest train subway was a long 20 minutes walk.
We took the subway to the Pudong new area of Shanghai, in 1990 this area was boggy farmland but now it is the financial centre of the city. The iconic Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the new Jinmao Tower stand here as the tallest buildings in the city and previously the world. The waterfront provided us with views of the Huangpu River and The Bund on the opposite side.
In the evening we went in search for a bar for a drink. Our hotel the Yinbo hotel is situated by the red light district and it is a bit of a walk to anywhere else. We eventually ended up back on the main pedestrian shopping street of East Nanjing where we were this afternoon and managed to find somewhere for a drink.
13/6
Day 138
After an awful breakfast and an argument over the bill at the cafe in the hotel we headed to Nanjing Road. We caught the tourist road train up the long shopping street and made
our way to the Shanghai museum. The impressive museum building is set in tasteful grounds and was an improved view of the city we had walked through to get here.
We spent an hour or so walking round the 4 floors of exhibits on display, including, jade, coins, Chinese ceramics and furniture. Next we flagged a taxi to take us to the area known in English as the French Concession. It felt like we had entered a European city full of trendy bars, restaurants and an exclusive shopping mall. After spending time walking round looking for somewhere to eat we realised nowhere here was in our budget. We got a taxi back to our hotel where we visited the restaurant next door again. The food was just as good as yesterday, however it did seem strange to have apple in sweet and sour pork, but it tasted good!
We enjoyed a few hours rest before finding a meal in a budget restaurant in the French Concession where Ben's friends were eating tonight. We had read in the Lonely Planet and been told of recommendations of bars in this area so we were hoping to find somewhere lively to
have a drink. We spent over an hour looking for a bar but to no avail so we had ended up having a night cap in our hotel room!
14/6
Day 139
In the morning we walked towards The Bund which is the popular esplanade area this side of the city. Unfortunately the whole mile long area is under construction, so we had to walk on the dusty unsafe roads and struggle to cross the road towards Nanjing Road. The traffic in China is chaotic, disorganised with pedestrians not being a priority at all. Bikes and cars seem to go through red lights, no one stops for pedestrian crossings, scooters even travel in the wrong direction and on pavements, it is a risk to walk in any of the cities in China.
After finding out that the airport shuttle is a Maglev train we went to the station to ride it. The unique train was built to take passengers from Shanghai to the airport and was completed in 2003. Oli, Charlotte and I boarded the train and it departed on time at 12.30pm. Over the next 8 minutes the train travelled 30 kilometres and reached a
top speed of 431 kilometres per hour.
At the half way point we passed the Maglev train going the other way and it only took a second to pass. At the end of the line we changed platforms and boarded the train for our return journey. We quickly visited the museum before meeting up with Perdy who we had left behind.
The train uses magnetic force to levitate above the special track and is one of the fastest trains in the world. The original concept dates back to the 1970's but with the technology costing a fortune, only a couple of countries have used the concept for transport in their cities. It took just 2 years for Shanghai to build the Maglev and it opened to public in 2003 and remains the only commercial Maglev in operation in the world.
In the afternoon we visited the old part of the city where we walked through bazaars and sat in the Yuyuan Gardens. We were to catch our final overnight train of this trip at 10pm, after a meal we collected our bags and went to the station. We have carried our bags more on this tour than
on the whole 5 months trip so far. It is nice to know that our bags weigh less than Perdy and Charlotte's rucksacks as theirs is full of souvenirs!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.056s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0273s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb